Bar/Bat Mitzvah Stories

Helena Blaszczyk is more than 80 years old and lives in a small Polish town called Czestochowa. Aaron Berman’s family is originally from Czestochowa but he doesn’t know Helena—at least not personally. What he does know is that Helena risked her own life to save the lives of four of her Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust.
 
Aaron learned about the Holocaust in Hebrew school at Temple Chai in Buffalo Grove. As he prepared for his Bar Mitzvah, Aaron wanted to honor not only the memory of all the Jews lost in the Holocaust, but also show appreciation to the men and women who helped Jews when so many others looked away. For his Bar Mitzvah project, Aaron sent money to Helena through the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, an organization that provides monthly financial support to more than 1,500 needy non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust

Helena and her brother were members of the Polish underground during World War II. When the Nazis invaded, this courageous brother and sister pair built a hiding place behind a wall in their home. Four Jews lived in this hiding place for three years, never leaving the space for fear of being discovered. During this time, a German officer moved into the house as well. “This made the hiding place even more dangerous, but also safer in a way, because the other Nazis wouldn’t search a German officer’s house,” says Aaron.

One day Helena and her brother were denounced and arrested. “They were beaten but they still didn’t betray the Jews,” says Aaron. Eventually the Ppolish underground was able to get Helena and her brother out of jail and they returned to their village, where Helena still lives today.

Aaron is glad that he learned about Helena while preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and even spoke about her in his D’var Torah when he became a Bar Mitzvah on June 11th.

By helping Helena now, and learning about how she helped Jews more then 60 years ago, Aaron learned an amazing lessen about how doing the right thing is more important than doing what everyone else is doing. Way to go, Aaron!